Two former heads of PAI Partners are expected to set up a new venture after they left the Paris-based buyout firm with a combined payment of €38m ($54m) for their management stakes.

Dominique Megrét, PAI’s former chief executive, and sector team head Bertrand Meunier are planning a start-up, said two people in the French market familiar with their thinking.

Megrét and Meunier are expected to spend the next six months away from the market before launching the vehicle, to comply with a non-compete agreement with PAI, the two people said.Megrét and Meunier declined to comment.

The pair left PAI in August, triggering a ‘key man’ clause which put the fate of its fund in the hands of its investors. Lionel Zinsou has taken over as chief executive.

Megrét and Zinsou sought advice from French lawyers, while the firm’s largest investor, BNP Paribas, took advice from UK law firm Linklaters.

PAI reached a compromise with investors allowing it to restart fundraising for its latest vehicle, but with the target halved from an original €5.4bn.

Large investors in the firm’s funds had lobbied other PAI backers to vote for a larger reduction. However, PAI received enough support to give it the two-thirds majority it needed to reopen the fund.